Aug. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
THE DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. 43 
cocoons, Loth as regards quantity and quality ; those of the upper part 
of the province, and known as Brianza cocoons, being the best. Pre- 
vious to the ravages of the silkworm disease, which has been so general 
of late years, the production of cocoons in this province varied from 
3,500 to 4,000 tons, according to the season, representing at the lower 
prices at which they were then sold, a value of from 420,000 lire to 
480,000 lire. 
" The Milanese silk manufacturers, however, not only possess and 
superintend numerous mills lor reeling and spinning tram and organ- 
ziue, but carry on a great many others in the neighbouring provinces, 
especially in that of Como. Not to speak of the vast number of small 
silk reelers who have only from two to eleven basins, there are in this 
province 140 reeling mills (Jilaudc), containing from twelve to 140 
basins, twenty-eight of which are heated with steam, the rest by water. 
These are in operation for about two months annually, giving occupa- 
tion during that time to no less than 12,000 persons, half of whom are 
women and half girls ; the former earning about 9^d. per diem, the 
latter half that sum. The spinning or twisting mills {ftlatoi or torcitoi), 
amount to ninety-five, containing a total of 18,968 spindles, and giving 
employment to about 11,000 men, women, and children, whose wages 
daily may be taken respectively at Is. 6 I., 8d., and 41. 
"Since the introduction of the silkworm disease into Lombard}'', the 
produce has fallen to half, a third, a quarter, and to even a fifth of that 
previously obtaiued, varying according to the province, the locality, and 
the year itself. Incalculably great as this loss may be to the country, 
but especially to the silkworm rearers and landed proprietors, the reel- 
ing and spinning mills have not suffered by this deplorable misfortune, 
owing to the intelligence and activity of the manufacturers. The 
Milanese houses, in fact, supply work for their reeling mills by pur- 
chasing largely Asiatic cocoons at Venice, whither they likewise resort 
for the Asiatic raw silk which they spin with the most admirable success 
into tram and organzine. 
" Silk reeling and spinning is an art which has existed in Lombardy 
from very remote times, and it has become, so to speak, a kind of pro- 
perty in some families, passing for generations from father tq ton, so 
that it is by no means uncommon for such houses to date back many 
centuries. It can easily be understood how this circumstance ennobles 
the occupation, producing a love for the art, a skill which increases with 
time, a feeling of emulation tending to produce the best result with the 
least expense, and an enterprizing spirit which invites to study and 
carry out modifications adapted to every kind of silk, and thus attain 
the highest degree of perfection. 
" It may be safely said, without fear of exaggeration, that the 
Milanese reeling and spinning mills have reached this point, and the 
assertion is fully confirmed by facts, seeing the esteem in which they 
are held by the manufacturers on the Rhine, in Switzerland, and even 
